Snowy Spain

The big revelation of the week has been discovering that it snows in Spain. Although it often rains here, snow is a whole different climate to deal with in a country which I thought was fairly warm all year round. Not only has it been snowing, but it’s been snowing so badly that on our way to work me and one of the English teachers who was giving me a lift ended up being 50 minutes late due to a landslide in Ermua caused by the bad weather. I definitely wasn't expecting extreme weather conditions to be one of my year abroad problems.

A flying visit

After Cadíz, my next trip was back to Southampton to see my best friends at university, most of whom I hadn’t seen for 6 months. I specifically went back because my February half-term conveniently coincided with one of my closest friends Meg’s 21^st birthday. Happy Birthday Meggy!

I was so excited to see everyone that I got butterflies on the journey from the airport. I definitely wasn't expecting to be so excited considering I'm still yet to get properly homesick. Luckily my friends didn't disappoint and I had the most amazing time hanging out and catching up, we even managed to fit in a spontaneous go-karting trip (which I inevitably lost). When I was surrounded by my friends in the house where I lived last year it genuinely felt like I’d never left.

As well as seeing my university friends I also got to see my friends from Somerset because we all went to Oxford to celebrate Rach’s 21^st birthday (perfect timing). In typical Somerset style we all dressed up as rowdy pirates and hit the town.

When I’m in Spain I don’t miss life back in England because my two lives are so detached and different that it doesn’t seem like I should be living anywhere else. However, only when I saw them did I realise how much I’d missed all of my friends. I’m happy to be back, but I was sad to leave. 

Carnaval!

This weekend, Steph and I went to the second biggest carnival celebration in Spain (after Tenerife, according to the internet) in Cadíz. We flew from Bilbao to Seville and eventually arrived at 11pm after a 3 hour delay, and then on Saturday we took the train to Cadíz. It was crazy. On the train we knew it was going to a big celebration as 90% of the people were in fancy dress. We weren’t as dedicated to dressing up as most of the people we saw - Steph went as a vampire and I went as a half-hearted cheerleader with big sunglasses and pom poms. During the 3 hour delay at the airport we came up with two very catchy cheerleader songs to make me a more believable cheerleader. However, the songs were mainly based on us being in Cadíz and wanting alcohol so maybe not your typical cheer song.

Cadíz definitely lived up to our expectations with concerts and celebrations on the plazas, as well as lots of fireworks. It actually turned out to be an amazing weekend for speaking Spanish as we mingled with the crowds, but the Andalucian accent is very hard to understand when they sound like they’re mumbling all the time and miss off every single ‘s’ in every single word. 

We hadn’t booked any accommodation in Cadíz so we had to stay out from 2pm when we got there until 5.30am on Sunday when the first train left for Seville. Over the course of the night we discovered that when the sun goes down, even in the south, it’s still winter in Spain. Steph and I got far too excited that it wasn’t raining and it was a good 10 degrees warmer than Bilbao so we failed to bring any extra clothes or coats for the evening, and consequently we were freezing. Luckily, we randomly bumped into someone who Steph goes to uni with in Durham who kindly provided us with shelter at about half 3 when we were at our coldest.

After shivering for a solid 12 hours we returned to the hotel in Seville at about 7.30am on Sunday, slept until 12pm, and then went sight-seeing. Seville was exactly how we pictured an Andalucian city to look like, with the stereotypical southern tiles and orange trees everywhere. It was so pretty but unfortunately for us there was a garbage strike, so it definitely didn’t look or smell as nice as it could have. We visited lots of squares, cathedrals, and the bullfighting ring which was really interesting as I didn’t know that bullfighting was still popular enough nowadays to warrant 4 academies within the city dedicated to teaching the art of becoming a matador.

Although exhausting, the trip was definitely worth it to experience the Spanish carnival and explore two lovely cities. 

Asturias, Aerobics, and A Few Less Hours

Continuing with my travels, I went to visit my friend Rosie who’s spending the year in Oviedo, Asturias. It took about 5 hours to get there by bus which wasn’t a problem on the way there because it wasn’t very busy and I could sit by myself, but on the way back I was squished next to a very large lady who (as well as sitting on most of my seat) decided to sit next to the window despite that being the seat I’d booked. Not ideal for a whole 5 hours. However, it was all worth it in the end and we had a lovely weekend doing what we do best - shopping and eating lots. Oviedo was a nice city but it’s not very big and it didn’t really seem like there was much to do, which really made me appreciate Bilbao. I don’t have any good photos because we didn’t really do anything cultural so instead, here’s a picture of the best frozen yoghurt I’ve had so far in Spain.

Back in Bilbao I’ve been to my first two exercise classes. I started my year here with good intentions of getting a gym membership but I’m so busy Monday to Thursday with school, and the gym doesn't really open at the weekends, so there isn't much point in me paying all that money. Instead, I just pay for the classes. However, these haven’t exactly gone to plan. The first class we went to turned out to be a weightlifting class (we were very confused when we walked in and were told to go and choose the weights we wanted, but by this point it was too late to leave), and the second class was aerobics. I thought that aerobics was a pretty standard thing across the world but, apparently, this isn’t the case. The class we went to turned out to be a very elaborate dance class, so I spent the whole of it walking from side to side and spinning, pretending I knew what was going on when really I didn’t have a clue. I’m determined to persevere with more classes though, and have the best beach body in time for summer and my return to England.

I’ve had a nice surprise this week as one of my lessons today and all of my lessons tomorrow have been cancelled. My friends in Bilbao rarely ever work 12 hours a week as their students seem to have a lot of exams or their teachers just don’t need them there, whereas I work my full 12 hours every week without fail. I can’t resent only having to work 12 hours as it’s really not a lot, but I do resent the fact that I have 3 hour gaps in between lessons. Because Ermua’s so far away I can’t come back to Bilbao, so I just have to fill the time by going to the tiny library or reading the daily mail online (great for keeping up with the celebrity gossip). When I wake up at 6am and don't retun until 4.30pm after only having 3 hours of classes while my friends are only working 2 hours a day without any gaps and only a 20 minute commute, I definitely get very jealous. However, I do think I have a better deal with the students as I get on with them so well (even the worst pupils now think I’m cool after I told them that my brother’s going to the festival Tomorrowland – cheers Nath!) Some students interviewed me for the school magazine within my first few weeks at the school and I’ve now managed to find it online: http://issuu.com/anaitasunabhi/docs/anaiberritasuna. The information’s completely wrong but I appreciate that they wrote it in English rather than Basque so I can at least understand the mistakes!